in pledge, for the payment of the stipulated vadia and regardum, when the service had been rendered. The person receiving these pledges entered into indenture with Richard Courtney, Bishop of Norwich, Treasurer of the King's Household, for the safe custody of the pledges, and the return of them to the royal treasury, when the king had fulfilled his part of the contract.

There were thus, antecedently to the actual commencement of the campaign, three distinct indentures entered into by the leaders, chiefs, or captains, namely: one of Military Service, one of Receipt of Prest Money, and one of Jewels in Pawn. A specimen will be given of each: and such is the uniformity with which they are drawn that a single specimen will give a complete idea of the whole. The Indenture of Military Service, it will be seen, was for one entire year, to attend the king in the journey he was about to undertake in person to Guienne and the parts of France, with a determinate number of men at arms and archers, or with archers only. The vadia of the contracting party and his retinue are specifically set down: a duke had 13s. 4d. a day; an earl, 68. 8d.; a baron or banneret, (for their pay was the same,) 48. ; a knight, 28.; a man at arms, 1s., and an archer, 6d. There was also the further advantage of what is described as the 'Regardum Consuetum,' which was 100 marks, per quarter, for every 30 men at arms. These indentures also contain the provisions respecting prisoners taken by the party. If the prisoner was a man of eminent distinction he was to be the property of the king absolutely; but the ransom of prisoners of inferior note was to be divided between the king and the captor. Most of the indentures of this class which remain are dated on the 29th day of April, in the third year of the reign, A.D. 1415; and the commander engaged to be at Southampton with the retinue on the 8th day of July. The Indentures of the

Receipt of Prest Money bear date on the 1st of July. The Indentures, by which the receipt of the Crown Jewels and Plate is acknowledged, are, for the most part, dated in the month of June. Collectively, these indentures present, what to me was an unexpected and quite a dazzling view of the wealth of the old sovereigns of England in silver and gold plate, and in the choicest work of the goldsmith.

It is manifest that had all the indentures thus entered into descended to our time we should have had little reason to regret the want of contemporary muster-rolls, or any other kind of evidence, for the purpose of forming a complete list of those persons who are to be regarded as the captains of the English host. Many, however, have perished, and others are faded, torn, and otherwise injured, through the cruel neglect of persons to whom, in past ages, these valuable documents were intrusted for their safe keeping. Measures have been taken to recover them from the mass of incongruous matter with which they were intermixed, and to preserve them for future times, under the new, and I trust, better administration of record affairs.

But, beside these indentures, there are other contemporary documents in the same repositories, relating to this expedition, equally authentic, and often containing what the indenture could not shew us; particulars of the service rendered, and of the fate of the commander and his retinue. These documents are the Accounts which were presented at the Exchequer when the expedition was over, by the persons who had indented, or by their representatives, or in other words, their claim upon the government for their pay. The manner in which the Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer were to proceed in respect of these accounts is particularly described in instructions given them by the king, enrolled on the Memoranda Roll of the King's

Remembrancer, for Hilary Term, in the 4th of the reign.

The instructions will be given hereafter, the purport of them being this:-The express words of the indenture are to be the basis of the settlement: those, however, who had died at the siege of Harfleur, or who had returned home sick, as so many did, or who had returned home for any other cause with the king's license, were to be considered as having served for one quarter of a year. Those who were left in Harfleur for the safeguard of the town, were to be accounted with, upon their own oaths, to the time when they entered the town, and from that time to the end of the second quarter, on the testimony of the captain of Harfleur, or his lieutenant, on the terms specified in the indenture. Touching those who had gone on to the battle of Agincourt, and had died there, or who had proceeded with the king from Agincourt to Calais, the claim which was to be allowed on their account was for the whole of the first quarter, and from the commencement of the second quarter to the eighth day after the king's arrival at the port of Dover. In respect of some, whom the king countermanded at Southampton, their captains are to be allowed the sum stipulated, for those of the retinue who actually crossed the sea, but not for those who remained in England and lastly, no allowance was to be made for

:

any who were left in England on account of the want of shipping.

In preparing the accounts, therefore, it would be necessary to set forth casualties and circumstances affecting at particular times the number of the persons for whom claims were made; and with these accounts there were sometimes presented to the barons, lists of the retinue of the commander nominatim, descending to the archers, the lowest class of soldiers; with marginal notes shewing who had been left at Harfleur, who went on to Agincourt, who were sent home sick or on any special

It is

service, who were slain, or had died during the campaign. to be regretted that so few of valuable lists such as these, were delivered in, or if delivered, have descended to our time and it is the more to be regretted, since, besides the names of men-atarms and archers, those delivered by the dukes, earls, and the greater captains, often contained the names of persons of eminent distinction, who did not themselves indent with the king, but preferred to serve as part of the retinue of some more eminent, and perhaps, more experienced chief.

With some of the accounts the licenses for return from Harfleur granted by the king, are preserved; exceedingly interesting as relics of the time, and affecting proofs of the mortality which prevailed in the army as it lay before Harfleur.

These accounts, with the indentures and other subsidiary documents belonging to them, were deposited in leathern pouches, on which the name of the person accounting was written in legible characters, with a brief statement of the length of service and these pouches seem to have been, in ancient times, hung up against the wall of some gallery or room in the old Exchequer offices, where they would doubtless be contemplated, like the tapestry in the old House of Lords, as an inspiriting memorial of national glory—a cherisher of the noble sentiment of the love of country.

It is not known at what period, or by whom they were taken down, but they have in past times, been treated in a manner, which if the evidence were not before us, would be thought incredible. Eminently interesting as they are as monuments of an event which stands prominently forth in the history of both France and England, and authentic vouchers as they are for many facts connected with that event in the history of particular families, they have been thrust into holes and corners in the

caverns of the Exchequer, they have been trodden under foot, and subjected to all kinds of depredation and destructive processes. Some which had been suffered to remain in their pouches, are, however, in a singularly beautiful state of preservation, fresh and fair as when they were first prepared by the great masters of calligraphy by whom they were executed. But for the most part they had been removed from the pouches, and were mixed with other matter, when I was called upon to make the orderly distribution of this mass of confusion, which is now nearly completed.

It will be seen that the instances are very rare in which we can produce the three Indentures, the Account, and the Retinue Roll. Sometimes all we have is but one of the Indentures, sometimes an Account only, and sometimes only a fragment of a Retinue Roll. Any one of these, however, serves as evidence of, at least, the intention to go, and perhaps, with the exception of the Earl of Cambridge and the Lord Scrope, who had indented, but who were put to death just when the expedition was on the point of sailing, there is little room for doubt, in any case, that the intention was carried out.

These then are the very authentic documents out of which the following catalogue is formed. But I have also made use of a few other records, of a miscellaneous character, such as notices of the issue of wine from the king's stores, to the sick at Harfleur; and a roll of melancholy interest, containing about a thousand names, of persons who were reported sick; again, documents relating to the ten knights and esquires of Lancashire, who covenanted with the Sheriff of the county to bring, each, fifty archers into the field; a document respecting a Welsh contingent; with several relating to persons, not military, who were attached to the army-priests, surgeons, and workmen of various